Waitrose teams up with Edesix to secure new in-house delivery service

Waitrose & Partners has teamed up with Body Worn Camera experts Edesix to trial its new in-home delivery service which will allow drivers to enter a customer’s home while they are out and put their groceries away. All delivery drivers will wear Edesix cameras, which will record their exact movements when they enter a customer’s property.

The trial, which also uses smart lock technology, will take place in London later this month. Waitrose, which is owned by the John Lewis Partnership, will be the first UK supermarket to try in-home deliveries.

Participating customers will set a temporary access code for their smart lock which will be sent to Waitrose & Partners via a secure app. The code will be forwarded to the driver at the scheduled delivery time and deleted after the delivery has been made. The driver will wear a body worn camera and customers will be able to view the video the next working day, if they wish.

Archie Mason, Waitrose head of business development, says: “There is an increasing demand among customers to make shopping even more convenient to fit around their busy lifestyles. The concept of ‘in-home delivery’ has started to prove popular in other countries so we are keen to establish if there is an appetite for it in the UK.”

Mason adds: “The fact that the movements of all delivery drivers will be recorded by Edesix Body Worn Cameras will give customers complete peace of mind.”

Richie McBride, managing director of Edesix, comments: “We are delighted to team up with Waitrose & Partners on this exciting new trial. The use of our cameras will give in-home delivery customers the reassurance they need that nothing untoward will be taking place in their home while they are not there. This is yet another example of a new market Body Worn Cameras can be utilised for.”

Edesix has enjoyed a great deal of success lately, ranging from winning some major contracts with the likes of UK prisons, Scotrail and South Australian Police, to being named in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 league table.

Edesix currently supplies markets across the globe, through direct sales and international partners, to geographies including the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, the Middle East and Australasia.